Tourist attractions Riga

Architecture, castles and historic districts

Kalku Iela LV - Riga

The delights of the old town of Riga lie between the Daugave and the Pilsetas canal, bordered to the north by K. Valdemara Street and to the south by 13. Janvara Street. In its maze of little streets are fine restored houses recalling the city's hist..

Architecture, castles and historic districts

Maza Pils Iela 17-19-21 17-19-21 LV - Riga

These three adjacent houses recall the Hanseatic history of the city when Riga's merchants prospered. The narrowest of them, n°21, is also the youngest, dating from the 18C. The next was built in 1646 and is embellished by a Baroque doorway added a c..

Museums and art

Pils laukums 3 LV - Riga

An unmissable atraction, this museum has nearly a million objects, tracing the nation's history from its origins to the Soviet era. There is so much to see, it is hard to focus on any one object: archaeological finds from 9000BC; a rich collection of..

Museums and art

Palasta Iela 4 LV - Riga

Housed in the old cathedral chapterhouse, which has undergone significant remodelling over the years, most significantly in 1779, when architect Christoph Haberland designed the Column Hall, this museum retraces the history of the capital and its por..

Museums and art

Ratslaukums LV - Riga

This museum deals with the periods of foreign domination experienced by Latvia's capital, largely to the city's detriment. Gulag deportations of political opponents, the extermination of the Jews, purges of Baltic nationalists in the late 1940s... Th..

Museums and art

Grecinieku Iela 18 18 LV - Riga

This house bearing the name of its last owner was built in 1695 for a master glazier called Jürgen Helms, and subsequently long occupied by a pharmacy. Following restoration works which have revealed wall paintings, it has been furnished using pieces..

Architecture, castles and historic districts

Smilsu Iela LV - Riga

Smilsu Street will delight lovers of early-20C architecture with its ensemble of buildings encompassing eclecticism and Art Nouveau, as typified by n°2, designed in 1902 by Konstantins Paksens and decorated with peacocks.

Religious buildings

LV - Riga

Although the cathedral was first built in the 13C, its original appearance has long been obscured by Gothic, Baroque, neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau additions. Beautifully lit by late-19C stained glass windows, the interior has a magnificent carved wood ..

Architecture, castles and historic districts

Ratslaukums LV - Riga

The trade body of merchants known as the Great Guild was all-powerful in the busy port of Riga during its membership of the Hanseatic League. This house was built in the 14C as its headquarters, and down in the basement there remain vestiges from tha..

Religious buildings

LV - Riga

This large brick church built in the Gothic style has had a turbulent history and experienced several phases of rebuilding. Its wooden bell tower, standing like a lighthouse on the Riga skyline, dominates the city from a height of 123m, 1.5m of which..

Museums and art

Skarnu Iela 10-20 LV - Riga

Located in the former church of St George (adapted for temporary exhibitions), this museum displays its collections in two large rooms. The first (level 2) is dedicated to the early days of applied arts in Latvia (19C-20C). The second deals with desi..

Architecture, castles and historic districts

Livu laukums LV - Riga

The best-known building in Lives Square is an Art Nouveau building on the corner of Meistaru Street. It is the famous house of cats (Kaka nams) built in 1903 by Friedrich Scheffel. The story goes that the cats with arched backs on the rooftop express..

Museums and art

K. Valdemara iela 10a LV - Riga

Riga's Museum of Fine Arts is housed in a vast historicist building dating from 1905. Although it deals primarily with the great Latvian painters of the late 19C to the middle of the 20C (Janis Rozentals, Janis Valters, Uga Skulme, Janis Liepins, Val..

Architecture, castles and historic districts

Alberta Iela LV - Riga

In the new town to the north of Old Riga, Alberta Street is worth a detour on account of the rich and diverse Art Nouveau architecture which lines it, illustrating the extraordinary creativity of this movement. Note in particular the buildings by Mik..

Museums and art

S. Eizensteina Iela LV - Riga

A collection of venerable vehicles belonging to Soviet figures (from Stalin's armoured ZIL to cars owned by Krushchev, Molotov and Brezhnev) makes this museum equally interesting to history buffs and classic car fans with an interest in marques that ..